
Speech ."TVi/\aWS 
0^ Ks^-n«'-^S. I85fc, 






^^^•if». 




Glass ^^? 

Book C^l 



THE "LA.WS" OF KA.]SrS^S. 



SPEECH OF SCHUYLER COLFAX, 

OF INDIANA, 
m THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

JUNE 3 1, 185 6. 



The House being in Committee of the Whole on the 
state of the Union on the Army appropriation bill 

Mr. COLFAX said : 

Mr. Chairman : I desire to give notice that 
I shall mcve, when we reach the third clause 
of the pending Army bill, the following amend- 
ment ; and I read it now, because the remarks 
I shall make to-day are designed to show its 
necessity 



But Coiig:ress. hereby disapproving of the apde of al- 
Jeged law* omcially communicated to them bjiWie Presi- 
dent, and which are represented to have been enacted by 
a bffdy claimin? to be the Territorial Legislature of Kan- 
sas, and also disapproving of the manner in which said 
alleged laws have been enforced by the authorities of said 
lerritory, expre=sly declare that, until these alleged laws 
shall have been affirmed by the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives as havina: been enacted by a le>ral Lea-isla- 
ture, chosen in conformity with the organic' law by the 
people ot Kansas, no part of the miliary force of the Uni- 
ted Slates shall he employed in uid of their enforcement- 
nor sliall any citizen of Kansas be required, under their 
provisions, to act as a pan of the posse co?/iitatus of any 
oflicer acting as marshal or sheriffin said Territory." 

My especial object to day is to speak relative 
to this code of laws, now in my hand, which has 
emanated from a so-called Legislative Assem- 
bly of Kansas ; and for the making of which 
jour constituents, in common with mine, have 
paid their proportion — the whole having been 
paid for out of the Treasury of the United 
States In speaking of the provisions embodi- 
ed in this voluminous document, and of the 
manner in which these "laws" have been en- 
forced, I may feel it my duty to use pkin and 
direct language; and I find my exemplar, as 
well as my justification for it, in the unlimited 
freedom of debate which, from the first day of 
the session, has been claimed and exercised by 
gentlemen of the other side of the House. And, 
recognising that freedom of debate as we have, 
to the fullest extent, subject only to the rules of 
the House, we intend to exercise it on this side, 
when we may see fit to do so, in the same am- 
ple manner, ilence, when we have been so 
frequently called "'fanatics," and other epithets of 
denunciation, no one on these seats has even call- 
ed gentlemen of the other side to order. When it 
has pleased them to denounce us as Black Repub- 
licans or colored Republicans, we have taken 
zo exception to the attack, for we regard free- 
dom of speech as one of the pillars of our free 



I institutions. When, not content with this, they 
. have charged us with implied perjury, in being 
hostile to the Constitution, and unfaithful to the 
Union, we have been content to leave the world 
tojudgebetween us and our accusers — a scrutiny 
in which principles will have more weight than 
denunciation. In spite of all these attacks we 
have not been moved to any attempt to restrict the 
most perfect and unlimited freedom of speech 
on the part of our denouncers ; for we acknowl- 
edged the truth of Jefi'erson's sentiment, that 
Error ceases to be dangerous, when Reason 
IS left free to combat it." 

If that constitutional safeguard of our ri(»hta 
and liberties, free speech in debate, is to'' be 
recognised anywhere, it should certainly be 
recognised, enforced, and protected, in thia 
House. _ Every Representative of a free constit- 
uency, if worthy of that responsible position, 
should speak here at all times, not with "bated 
breath," but openly and fearlessly, the senti- 
ments of that constituency; for, sir, it is not 
alone the two hundred and thirty-four members 
of this House who mingle in this arena of de- 
bate; but here, within this bar, are the teeming 
millions of American freemen, not individually 
participating, as in Athens in the olden time, 
in the enactment of laws and the discussion 
and settlement of the foreign and domestic poli- 
cy of the nation ; but still, sir, participating in 
the persons of their Representatives, whom they 
have commissioned to speak for them, in tho 
important questions which are presented for 
our consideration. Here, in this august pres- 
ence, before the whole American people, thus 
represented, stand, and must ever stand, States 
and statesmen, legislators and jurists, parties 
and principles, to be subjected to the severest 
sciutiny and the most searching review. Here 
Alabama arraigns Massachusetts, as she has 
done through the mouth of one of her Repre- 
sentatives but a few weeks since; and here 
Massachusetts has equally the right to arraign 
any other State of the Confederacy. And while 
the Republic stands, this freedom of debate, 
grarantie.l and protected bv the Constitution, 
must and will be sustained and enfciced on thia 
floor 



2 



%B^ 



Mr. Ohairman, I feel compelled, on this oc- 
casion, therefore, by truth, &n(\ by a cunscien- 
lious conviction of what I know to be the feel- 
iiigu of my constitueiita— for whom I apeak as 
much as I do for rnvself— to denounce, as I do 
this day. the "code" of the so called Lei.'isla- 
ture of Kiiiisas, as a code of tyranny and op- 



I wish first., Mr. Chairman, to speak of th6 
manner iu which the Chief Justice, aitti'j^ aa 
the supreme judicial CyfKcer of the Territory of 
Kansas, has performed the fanctions of his of- 
fice. I have no imputation to make upon him 
as a mau of moral character or of judicial abil- 
ity. I know nothi!!? in regard to either. I do 



pvession, acodeofoutra>jeandofwn)n?,which notsayhe has wilfully and cnrrupi'y violated 
would diWrace the Lr-islature of any State of his official oath; for I can say ///«/ au hontaave- 



the Union, as it disgraces the Gotbs and Van 
dais, who, after invading and conquering the 
Territory, thus attempted to play the despot 
over its people, and to make the white citizen.s 
of Kansas greater slaves than the blacks of 
Missouri. No man can examine the decrees 
of Louis Napoleon, no matter how ignorant he 
may have been of the procession of events in 
France for the past six years, without having 
the convi ction forced upon his mind that they 
emanated from an usurper and a despot. The 
very enac . ments embodied in these decrees 
be* testimony against hiai. The limitations 
on the righ t of the subject; the mockery of ihe 
pretended freedom of elections which he has 
vouchsafed to the people; the rigid censorship 
of the press ; the shackles upon the freedom of 
speech ; all combine to prove that they emanate 
{h)m an au tocrat, who, however men may dif- 
fer as to the wisdom of his statesmanship, un- 
doubtedly governs France with a strong arm 
•nd an iron rule. And so, sir, no unprejudi- 
ced man can rise from a candid perusal of this 
code without being thoroughly convinced that 
it never emi^n-ited from a Legiblature volunta- 
rily chosen by the people whom it professes to 
govern, but that it was dictated and enacted by 
usurpers and tyrants, whose leading object was 
o; crush out some sentiment predominant 
amongst that people, but distasteful and offeu- 
8ive to these usurping legislators. I know this 
is a strong assertion; but, in the hour of your 
time which I shall occupy, I shall prove th\A 
assertion from the intrinsic evidence of the 
code itself. 

Before I proceed to make an analysis of these 
laws, which I hold were never legally enacted, 
■were never tit to be made, nor fit to be obeyed 
by a fre« people, let me say a few words in re- 
gard to ihe manner in which they have been 
administered and enforced. We have heard 
of murder after murder in Kansas — murders of 
men for the singular crime of pn f rring Free- 
dom to Slavery; but you have not hturd of one 
single attempt by any court in thai Teiritoryto 
indict any one of those murderers. The bodies 
of Jones, of D jw, of Barbei-, and others, mur- 
dered in cold blood, are moaldcving away and 
joining the silent dust ; yet one of the mur- 

trers this very day holdis a Ter itorial ofSce in 
ansas, and auotner of thim holds an office of 



ly in only one way— and that is, by voting for hia 
impeachment. I shall not comment, sir, op the 
extraordinary manner in which he hiis enfi-rce'l 
,lhe Kansas code, with Draconian severity, 
against all who advocated Freedom lor Kansas, 
but with a serene leniency towards all who did 
not ; pushing its severest provisions to the _es- 
Iremeat point in the one casc^, and forgetting, 
apparently, that it contains any penalties what- 
ever in the other. But 1 desire to draw the at- 
tention of the House to the fact, proven by the 
code itself, that this " LcKislature " have u^i^d 
every exertion v/ithin their power to make that 
Judge the interested champion and advocate of 
the validity of their enactments. Pecuniary 
interest, sir, is a powerful argument with man 
kind generally. We all see and we all recog- 
nise this fact as a truism which no logician de- 
nies. The Administration that gives a mau an 
extensive or a profitable contract may reaso):a- 
bly expect to find in him a supporter. The 
Legislature that confers on a man a valuable 
charter, would have a right to feel surprised if 
he did not decide in favor of the legality and 
the constitutionality of their enactments ; as well 
as use all of his influence in their favor, if their 
authority to act as grantors was disputed, and 
if his charter fell to the ground as worthless, 
in case their right to grant it was overthrown. 
It is true, some men are so pure as not to be 
affected by such things; but in the generality 
of cases, the human mind cannot fail to be thus 
influenced, even if it is not absolutely covitroiled. 
Now, if you will turn to the conohidirig por- 
tion of this " code of laws," yon will find one 
hundred and forty pages of it, over one-sixth of 
the whole, devoted to corporations, shingled in 
profusion over the whole Territory, granting 
charters for railroads, insurance comijanies, loll 
bridges, ferries, universities, mining companies, 
plank roads, and, in fact, all kinds of cliarters 
that are of value to their recipients, and more, 
iiideed, than will be needed there for many years. 
No less than four or five hundred persotn (not 
counting one hundred Territorial road oommis- 
sionersj have been thus incorporated, am! have 
been made the recipienta of the bounty of th- 
legislation of Kansas, making a great, portion, 
if'not all of them, interested advocates to sus- 
tain the legality of those laws now in dispute be- 
fore the American peojde. I need scarcely add. 



influence and rank under the authority of the ihat tho name of nearly every citizen ot L.u.sas 
General Government, while neither the Territ,.- who has been conspicuous in the recent bloo..y 
rial northeGeneralGovernmentinqaire in othe , .-.cenes in th.at lerntory on the side ot Slavery, 
crimes th-y have committed, or the juntific ition \ can be found amoHg th« favored ^-rantees ; ami 
tr their brothers' blood that stains iheir hands. ' all of them know that, it that Legislature. iS 



proved to be illegal and fraudulent, their grants 
become valueless. 

In quotinij from this code of the laws of the 
Legislature of Kansas, I desire to state that I 
quote from Executive document No. 23, sub- 
mitted to this House by the President of the 
United Stntes, and printed by the public printer 
of C-'ni?ress. It is entitled " Laws of the Ter- 
ritory of Kansas," and forms a volume of eight 
hundred and twenty-three pages. I notice that 
many members have a copy of this code before 
them now ; and as many people, as they discuss 
these enactments around the hearthstone at 
home, cannot believe that they are authentic, I 
will take pains to quote the section and page of 
every law I allude to, and will say to gei»tle"men 
upou the other side, that if they find me quoting 
incorrectly in a single .instance, or in the minu- 
test particular, essential or non-esseutial. I call 
upon them to correct me on the spot.* I wish 
tolay the exact truth, no more, no less, from 
this official record itself, authenticated as it is 
by the President of the United States himself, 
before Congress and the American people. 

You will find in this code of laws, that Mr, 
Isaacs, the district attorney of Kansas, figures 
in four acts of incorporation, and cannot'' fail, 
therefore, to believe in the legality of their enact- 
naent. Mr. L. N. Reese figures in three more ; 
Mr. L. J. Eastin in three ; Stringfellow in three' 
of course ; and R. R. Reese in five— all of them 
earnest defenders of the code and its provisions, 
as might be expected. But I desire more par- 
ticularly to show you the incorporations in which 
the Territory of Kansas have given an interest 
to the Chief Justice of the Territory, Judge ie- 
compte, sitting though he does upon the judicial 
behch, to decide upon the validity of these Ter- 
ritorial laws. You will find him, on page 788, 
incorporated as one of the regents of the Kan- 
sas University ; but I pass by that, as of very 
little moment. At page 7G0 you will find a char- 
ter for the Central Railroad Company, with a 
capital of $1,000,000, in which S. A. Lecompte 
is one of^the corporators. The Chief Justice's 
name is S. D. Lecompte ; and as I cannot hear 
of any other person of the name of Lecompte 
in the Territory, I have no doubt that this is a 
misprint in the middle initial, and that his name 
was intended. But I will give him the benefit 
of the doubt, and pass over this charter. On 
page 7G9 you find another charter, in which 
Chief Justice S U. Lecompte fij^ures as a cor- 
porator. It is the charter of the Leavenworth, 
Pawnee, and Western Rdlroad, which, iu the 
opiiiion of many, is destined to be a link in the 
great Pacific Railroad, or at least an important 
section ffi one of its branches. It is chartered 
with a capital of $5,000,000, and five years' 
time is given for the grantees to commence the 

♦ The patrcs referred to are numbered in Bccordance 
with the Oftcial Reprint of ihe l.aws by Congress, of 
Vk'hich ear h Aieini.er luis a c»y. and not the puyes of the 
edition primed m Kansas. J! the Sections, liowcver, are 
generally (;uoted in full, they can easily be traced by any 
person h aving the latter edition. 



work. This charter, valuable as it must become 
as the Territory advances iu population ai.d 
wealth, is pre.sented as a free gift to Judge Le- 
compte and his associates by the mfck Legis- 
lature of Kansas. Of course, fn all tht^se char- 
ters the directors are to open bookn for the sub- 
scription of stock, keepin.ir them open "as long 
as they may deem proper ; " no barrier existing 
against their subscribing the whwle s<tock them''- 
selves, the moment that the books are opened, 
if they choose So to do. But I desire to draw 
sxiexiHon par tindarlij to another grant, to be 
found on page 774, in which this same impar- 
tial Judge, S. D. Lecompte, with nine other per- 
sons, are incorporated as the Leavenworth and 
Lecompton Railroad; and I ask you to notice, 
and expkin, if you can, the diflerence which 
exists between that and other incorporations. 

In the first place, the other railroad charters 
are granted to certain persons in cottiinvous 
succession. In this charter, with a capital of 
§3,000,000, for a railroad Irom Leavenworth to 
his favorite city of Lecompton, (which was made 
the capital of the Territory by this same Legis- 
lature,) with an indefinite and unrestrained 
power to build branch railroads from the capital 
in any and every direction. Judge Lecompte 
and his associates, including Woodson, the Sec- 
retary of the Territory, are granted perpetual 
.succession. In section 21, page 777, there is 
this special exception, which, though brief in 
Its language, is momentous in its importance, 
for the benefit of Judge Lecompte & Co. : 

" Thai .«eeiions= seven, thirteen, and twenty, of article 
irst, and so much of section eleven, article second as re- 
late.-, lo stock owned, of an act concerning corporations, 
shall not ai)ply to this act."' ' 

In the examination which I gave to there 
laws, it struck me that this exception of this 
charter, for the benefit of Lecompton and Le- 
compte, from the provisions of the general law 
relative to corporations, was singular, to say the 
least ; and I turned back to the general law, to 
see the character of the provisions thus sus- 
pended, so far as this act was concerned ; and 
the proof that it furnishes of the intention, oa 
the part of the Legislature, to make Judge Le- 
compte interested in their behalf, is s6 s^trong, 
that I will refer you to these sections as circum- 
stantial'evidenceof no ordinary character. 

Section seven of the general corporation law 
(see page 164) provides as follows: 

"The charter of every corporation that shall hereafter 
he f;rai,te,l by law, shall be subject to a/uration. sus- 
p-ii-ioM. or repeal, by any sucec din- LcKislaiure: Proi^ 
<M sucM iil'eraiion.susi.eii-ion, or repeal. shall ii nowise 
conll.etwith any right vested iu such corporation by its 
charier." •' 

But in Lecompte's charter, the power even 
to amend it is, by the suspension of the above 
section, withheld from any " succeeding Legis- 
lalure," even if said Legislature, or the people of 
Kansas, unanimously desired its amendment. 

Sec. 13 (page Kio) makes the stockholders of 
all corpoiiitious individualbj liable for its debts. 
But this, too, is suspended by the mock Legisla- 
ture of Kausas, for the benefitof Judge Lecc upte. 



Section twenty (see page 166) makes dired- 
ors liaMe for debts incurred by them exceeding 
the capital stock. But this, also, is suspended 
in Judge Lecompte's charter, and he is one ol 
the directors of the road. 

But there is still another extraordinary pro- 
vision in this charter, which I find in no other 
grant of this Legislature. Section fifteen (page 
776) provides: 

"If said company shall require for l,he construction or 
xeoair of said road, any sione. gravel, or other materiiils 
from the land of any person adjomuis to or ?:eaR saiu 
road, and cannot contract for the same with the ov\ner 
thereof, said company may pro .eed to take posse-sion of 
and use the same, and liave tlie property asiessed.- &.o. 

Not only are they empowered to take stone, 
gravel, and other materials, including timber, 
of such great value in Kansas, from land through 
which the road runs, but also from "adjoining 
tracts; and still further, from tracts "near 
said road," which may be construed to mean 
one mile, or five miles, or ten miles off, as the 
case may be. And if the owner refuses to part 
with his timber or gravel, the company are au- 
thorized to take it first, and pay for it after- 
wards ; and the man who resists, and seeks to 
protect his own property, would be amenable 
to the penalties of this bloody code for resisting 
"the laws of Kansas." What was the object 
of these extraordinary grants and privileges to 
Judge Lecompte and his associates, I submit 
for the American people to decide. 

Before I leave this Judge — the central figure 
as he is of the group of men in Kansas who 
are using the power of the Judiciary as it was 
used during "the bloody assizes" in England 
and the Reign of Terror in France, to enforce 
the decrees of tyranny — I must call attention 
to his charge to the last grand jury which he 
addressed in Kansas; and in which, instead of 
alluding to the destruction of property of Free 
State men by unauthorized mobs; to the tar- 
ring and feathering, and other personal out- 
rages, to which many of them had been sub- 
jected ; to the repeated invasions of the Terri- 
tory by armed marauders, of which he had been 
a witness ; and to the murders of unoffending 
Free State men, of which he could not have 
failed to hear; his virtuous desire to uphold 
"the laws" found vent in another direction — 
the direction of persecution instead of protec- 
tion. I quote from this extraordinary charge, 
as published in the National Intelligencer of 
this city, of June 5, 185G, the following extra- 
ordinary paragraphs: 



"This Territory whs organized by an act of Congress, 
and, so far, its autliority is from the United States. It has 
a Legislature, elected in pursuance of thai organic act. 
This Legislature, being an instrument of Congress by 
which it'governs the Territory, has passed laws. These 
; laws, therefore, are of United Slates authority and making; 
and all that resist these laws, resist the power and author- 
ity of th« Uiuted States, and are therefore g-Ki'/fj/ of high 
treason. 

"Now, gentlemen, if you find that any persons have re- 
sisted these laws, then you jnust. under your oaths, find 
bills against such persons for high treason. If you find 
that no such resistance has been made, but that combina- 
tions have been formed for the purpo-se of resisiing them, 
and individuals of influence and no'.onetv have been aid- 



ing and abetting in such coinbiiiaiions, then mutt y« a Btill 
find bills for constrtrctive treason." &e. 

Mr. Chairman, I am no lawyer; but I think 
I understand the force of the English language; 
and when I read in the Constitution of the Uni- 
ted States that "Treason against the United 
States shall consist only in levying war against 
them, ©r in adhering to their enemies, giving 
them aid and comfort," I do not hesitate to 
brand that charge of Judge Lecompte, under 
which Governor Robinson was indicted for 
treason, and is now under confinement and re- 
fused bail, as grossly, palpably unjust, and 
wholly unauthorized by the Constitution. To 
concede his argument, that to resist, or "Jko 
form the purpose of resisting," the Territorial 
laws, is treason against the United States, be- 
cause Congress authorized a Legislature to pass 
law.?, leads you irresistibly to the additional po- 
sition, that to resist the orders of the county 
boards created by that Legislature is also trea- 
son, for these boards are but one further remove 
from the fountain-head of power. And thus, 
sir, " the extreme medicine of the Constitution 
would become its daily bread ; " and the man 
who even objected to the opening of a road 
through his premises, would be subject to the 
pains and penalties of treason. No, sir; that 
charge is only another link in the chain of 
tyranny, which the Pro-Slavery rulers of that 
Territory are encoiling around its people. And 
when the defenders of these proceedings ask us 
to trust to the impartiality of courts, I answer 
them by pointing to this charge, and also to the 
judicial decrees of the Territory, by authority 
of which numbers of faithful citizens of the 
United States have been indicted,_ imprisoned, 
and harassed — by authority of which the town 
of Lawrence was sacked and bombarded — by 
authority of which printing presses were de- 
stroyed, without legal notice to their owners^ 
and costly buildings cannonaded and consumed, 
without giving the slightest opportunity to their 
proprietors to be heard in opposition to these 
decrees ; all part and parcel of the plot to drive 
out the friends of Freedom from the Territory, 
so that Slavery might take unresisted posses- 
sion of its villages and plains. 

It might have been supposed that, at least, 
one of those rights dear to all American free- 
men—the trial by an impartial jury— would 
have been left for the people of Kansas unim- 
paired. But when the invaders and conquer- 
ors of Kansas, in their border ruffian Legisla- 
ture, struck down all the rights of freemen, they 
did not even leave them this, with which they 
might possibly have had some chance of justice, 
even against the hostility of Presidents, the 
tyranny"of Governors, and the hatred of Judge's. 
No jurors, sir, are drawn by lot in the Terrii,ory. 
But the first .<^ection of the act concerning ju- 
rors (see page 377) enacts that "All courts, 
before whom jurors ^re required, may order 
the marshal, sheriff, or other ofBcer. tc summon 
a sufficient number of jurors " 



6 



The whole matter is left to the discretion of 
tSbese officers; and Marshal Donaldson or 
"Sheriff Jones " pack juries with just such men 
as they prefer, and whom they know will be 
their willing instruments. For a Free State 
man to hope for justice from such a jury, 
charged by such a Judge as Lecompte, would 
be to ask that the miracle by which the three 
IsraeHtes passed through the fiery furnace of 
their persecutors unscathed, should be daily re- 
enacted in the jurisprudence of Kansas. Nay, 
more, sir — to make assurance doubly sure, the 
eame law in regard to jurors excludes all but 
Pro-Slavery men from the jury-box in all cases 
relating directly or indirectly to Slavery; for 
here is its thirteenth section, (page 378:) 

" No person who is eonscientiotcsli/ opposed to the hold- 
ing slaves, or who does not admit llu risilit lo lioltl fliives 
in this Territory, shall be a juror in aiiy cnusf- in which 
the right to hold any person in slavery is iuvolvert, nor in 
any cause in which any injury done to, or conimilted by. 
any slave, is in issue, nor in any criminal proeeedinq^ lor 
the violatior. of any law enacted for ihe protection ofslave 
property, and for the punishment of crime committed 
against the right to such property." • 

I ^eave this dark picture of the jurisprudence 
of Kansas, and turn now to the laws them- 
selves— " laws " that were, as late as the 9th of 
February, 1856, over two months after the 
«pening of this session, thus spoken of by the 
Detroit Free Press, the organ of General Cass, 
and one of the leading Democratic papers of 
the Northwest : 

"But the Pre>ident should pause long be.rore trea'iiig-as 
'treasonable insurrectinn' the action oV those iiiliiibiiaiiis 
of Kansas who deny the binding autho-ity of the iMis'ouri- 
Kansas Legislature; for. in our liumhle opinion, a people 
that would not be inclined to rebel against the acis of a 
legislative boOy forced upon them i-y fraud and vioUnce, 
V-'Ould be tt?iwortlnj the nn.ne of Ayijrican. If tihfrf was ever 
justifiable cause for popular recolution ai;ainsl a usurping 
and obnoxious Goi-ernirunt, that cause has existed in Kan- 
sas." 

The President of the United States has de- 
clared, in his special message to Congress, in 
his proclamation, and in his orders to Governor 
Shannon and Colonel Sumner, through his Sec- 
retary of State and Secretary of Way, that this 
code of Territorial laws is to be enforced by the 
full exercise of his power. He has, of course, 
read them, and knows of their provisions. He 
must know that they trample even on the or- 
ganic law, which his official signature breathed 
into life. He must know that they trample on 
the Constitution of the United States, which 
he and we have sworn to support. Reading 
them as he has, he could have chosen rather to 
support the law of Congress and the national 
Constitution ; but he preferred to declare pub- 
licly his intention of assisting, with all his power 
and authority, the enforcement of this code, 
which repudiates both. The National Demo- 
cratic Convention also, at Cincinnati, denounced 
"treason and armed resistance to the laws" in 
a marked anH special manner; and if there was 
any doubt as to the object of this denunciation, 
the speech of the author of the Nebraska bill 
himself, Mr. Douglas, at the ratification meet- 
ing in this eity, a few nights since, shows plain- 



ly its "intent and meaning." Wishing to do 
no injustice to any one, I quote from his speech, 
as reported in the National Democratic organ 
here, the Washington Union, of June 10, which 
I hold in my hand : 

'■'I'lie plaiforin w.as equally explicit in reference to the 
ditturha-tccs in relation lo the Territory of Kansas. It de- 
clared that treason was to be punished, and resistance lo 
the laws was to he put down."' * « * * 

" He rejoiced that the Convention, by a unanimous vote 
had approved of (he creed thai tiw must and shall prevail 
[Applause,] He rejoiced that we I ad a standard-bearer 
[.Mr. Buchanan] with so much wisdom and nerve as to 
enforce a iirm and undivided execution of (/lose laws.''' 

And Mr. Buchanan, after the nomination, 
replied to the Keystone Club, who called on 
him on their return from Cincinnati, as fol 
lows : 

'' Gentlemen, tvv-o weeks since I should have made you 
a longer speech, but now I have been placed upon a plat- 
form of which I most heartily approve, and that can ipeak 
for me. Being the rcpre.-entalive of the great Democratic 
party, and not simply James Suehanan,! must square my 
conduct according to the platfoim of that party, and insert 
n) iievv plank, nor lake one from tt. That platform is suf- 
ficiently broad and national for the whole Democratic 
party." 

I shall now proceed to show you no less than 
seven palpable violations of the organic lam^ 
(the Nebraska bill,) incorporated' into this 
code by the bogus Legislature which enacted 
it. The President, Judge Douglas, and Mr. 
Buchanan, who are ail pledged "to enforce 
these Territorial laws," cannot have failed to 
notice that the conquerors of Kansas enacted 
their code, regardless of whether its provisions 
coincided with the organic law or not; but, 
nevertheless, where they differ, the law of the 
United States is to be ignored, and the Pro- 
Slavery behests of the Kansas invaders are to 
be carried out at the point of the bayonet, if 
necessary. 

First. Section twenty-two of the Nebraska 
bill enacts that the House of Representatives 
in Kansas shall consist of twenty-six members, 
"whose term of service shall continue one 
year." That does not mean eighteen, nine- 
teen, or twenty months, but "one year," and 
one year only. The Legislature of Kansas was 
elected on the 30th day of March, 1855— a day 
which has become famous from the discussions 
in this House and elsewhere in regard it ; and, 
sir, if you will turn to page 280 of this Kansas 
code, you will see that there is not to be aa 
election for members of the lower House of the 
Legislature until the first Monday in October, 
in the year 1856 — over eighteen months after 
the first Legislature was elected. If you turn, 
then, to page 403, you will find that no regular 
session of that Legislature is to be held until 
January, 1857 ; so that the term of that House 
of Representatives, in defiance of the organic 
law, is prolonged to twenty-two months instead 
of twelve mouths. Sir, their term has expired 
now. There is no Legislature in the Territory 
of Kansas this day ; and therefore, in the lan- 
guage of the Declaration of Independence, 
"the legislative nowers, incapable of annihila- 
tion, have returned to the people at large for 



their exercise." For exercising them, how- 
ever, in no coriflifl with 'he Tern?orial "jT'ivern- 
Eieiit, bat carefully avoWing it, and abstaining 
from putting any I'^gislation in force, bat only 
organizing as a State to apply for admission 
here, as "a redress for their grievances" — for 
doiii? this, the court of Jndge Lecompte ar- 
raigns them for treason, and scatters its indict- 
ments ail over the Territory. 

Second. The same section of the Kansas 
organic law says that the members of the coun- 
cil jhall serve for " t\70 years ; " but *heir term 
has been prolonged in the same manner to 
neaihj three years, so that the councillors elect- 
ed in March, 1855, remain in otfice until the 
1st of January. 1858 — longer than a member of 
this House holds his t-eat by the authority of 
his constituents. And it is to this Legislature, 
the Senatorial branch of which, even if legally 
elected, should expire in nine months from this 
time, but which, in defiance of the organic lav<, 
have taken upon themselves to extend their 
term to a period nineteen mouths distant, that 
Judge Douglas de.ures, in his bill, to submit 
the question of when a census shall be taken 
preparatory to admission as a Siate, and to 
clothe them wi'h the superinteiidence of the 
movements in the Territory, pi'elirainary to 
said admission. When we have investigated 
today the "constitutionality," the "justice," 
the "impartiality," the "humanity," of their 
acts thus far, no one will need to ask, why I 
am not willing, for one, to give them the slight- 
est d('i:ree of power or authority hereafter, but, 
on the contrary, desire to take from them that 
■which they have illegally usurped and tyranni- 
cally exercised. 

But, if to these two points it is replied that 
the term of the House of Representatives was 
intended by this mock Legislature to expire on 
the oOih of March, 1856, ten months before the 
new House takes its seat, and the Council, in 
M,ach, 1857, ten months before the new Ceun- 
oil meets, it follows that, though the Nebraska 
bill extended " popular sovereignty " by giving 
the President absolute control of two of the 
three branches of the Government, the Execu- 
tive and Judicial, and kft to the people only 
the Legislative, subject to a two-thirds veto of 
the Preeiden:'s Governor, this Legislature so 
legislates that there is no H';ut<e of Represent- 
atives there from March, 185G, to Jaimary, 
1857 — and no Council from March, 1857, to 
January, 1858 — in a word, so that there can be 
no L<-gislature in the Terrlt(;ry from March, 
185(5, to January, 1858, except from January 
to .March, 1857, n.vuKi.Y two months out of 

TWENTY TWO I 

Tuird. The next violation of the organic 
law is the enacting of a Fugitive Slave Law in 
that Territory ; although, by section twenty- 
eight of the Ne raska bill, the Fugitive Slave 
Liiw of the United States was declared " to ex- 
tend and be in full force wi hin the limits of 
the Territory of Kansas." This is one of the 



violations that I do not complain much aliout, 
for, in some respects, the Territorial law is 
milder than the national one, and requires the 
slave claimant to pay the costs in advance; but 
I allude to it to show the utter recklessness of 
the Kansas legislators, and their di^T^gard of 
the-l&w of Congress. By this law, (sections 28 
and 29, page 329,) persons are prohibited from 
taking fugitives from the Territory, except ia 
accordance with its provisions, and are tined 
§500 if they do so. 

Fourth. The expenses of the Territory are 
paid, as is well known, out of the National 
Treasury ; and section thirty of the Nebraska 
bill enacts that the chief clerk of the Legisla- 
ture i^hall receive four dollars per day, and the 
other clerks three dollars per day. But on page 
44 l of the Kansas code, you will find an extra 
douceur to the clerks, of fifteen and twenty 
cents per hundred words for indexing and 
copying journals; on page 145, another law, 
declaring that, if the Secretary (then acting as 
Governor, after Governor Reeder's removal) 
should refuse his assent to the above, the chief 
and assistant clerks should receive $100 each 
out of the Treasury, besides their per diem ; 
and on the next page, page 146, the pay of the 
enrolling and engrossing cleVks is increased to 
four dollars per day, on the like contingency, 
although the organic law expressly fixed it at 
three dollars per day. The legislators acted as 
if they had not only conquered the people of 
Kansas, but the National Treasury also. 

Fijth. Section twenty two of the organic law 
gives the Governor, exclusively, the right of 
determining who. were elected members of the 
Legislature. He did so, throwing out about 
one third of the members elected at the first 
election, the reign of teiTor and of violence 
preventing more contests of other equally fraud- 
ulent returns. But the Legislature, when as- 
sembled, without examination of the merits of 
each case, and without authority to commit 
such an act at all, threw out all the members 
elected at the second election, and admitted ia 
their stead those whose right to seats the Gov- 
ernor had expressly denied. 

Sixth, Section twenty four of the organic 
law enacts : 

"That the legislative power of Ihe Territory shall ex- 
t^•ml to all ri-jhllul subjecis of lt;i;is'aii(i:i coM.sisiom with 
the Co stnuiioii of ilie Uiii'ed S.at''-; hiii no law ahall be 
passed interfering with the primary disposal of the ioil." 

But if you will turn to page 600, you will see 
how coolly this bogus Legislature ignores both 
the Nebraska bill and the pre-emption law; for 
it declares, as if iheij owned the soil, that ia 
actions of trespass, ejectment, &c., settlers 
shall he p''olected in their pre-emptions, not of 
one hundred and sixty acres, but of three hun- 
dred and twenty acres; "that such claim may 
be located in two different parcels, to suit the 
convenience cf the holder," " without being 
compelled to prove an actual enclosure ; " and 
the still more flagrant repudiation of the Con- 



7 



greRsional preemption law, that "occupancv 
by tentiit shall be considered equallv vali'i as 
personal residence," under which the whole 
Territory may be pre empeed by Missouriaiis. 
And this law, with the others, is to be enforced 
by the President! 

Seventh. Section thirty of the Nebraska bill 
enacts that the official oath to be taken by the 
Governor and Secretary, the Judges, '' and all 
other civil offlcers in said Territory," shall be 
"to support the Constitution of the United 
States, and f;ulhfully to discharge the duties of 
their respective offices." No more — no less. 
But the legislators of Kansas, with the same 
disregard of the Congressional law that mark- 
ed their other acta, enacted another kind of 
official oath, on page 438 of their code, as fol- 
lows : 

" Sec. 1. All o_fflcers eler-.ted or appointed under any ex- 
Jsting v sul)»equemly-enacted laws of this Territory, 
shall take and i^ulisciihe the rollowmg oath of office : 'I, 

— . do soli-mily swear, upon the holy Rva^iijelists of 

A mi-4hly God. that 1 will support the Constiiution of the 
United Slates, and that I will support and sustain the pro- 
Tisious 01 an act entitled " An act lo ortanize the Terri 
tones ot Nebraska »nd Kansas'' and the provisions of the 
-avv of the United Staes commonly known as the •' F^t- 
gtttve Slat-e Law.'" and faithfully and impartially, and to 
tne best of my ahiliiy. dem-an myself in the discharge of 
my duties in the office of ; so help me God.' " 

You cannot fail to notice that, in this new 
oath, framed by the bogus Legislature, the Fu- 
gitive Slave Law is elevated to a ''higher law" 
than the Constitution ; for the officer is merely 
to "support" the latter, but is required to 
swear that he will " support a\d sustain " the 
other. 

Besides these seven palpable, flagrant, and 
unconcealed violations of the organic law, or- 
ganizing the Territory, I point you now to five 
equally direct and open violations of the Con- 
stitation of the United States; for that instru- 
ment has been trampled upon as recklessly as 
the laws of Congress. 

First. The very first amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States prohibits the pas-- 
eage of any law "abridging the freedom of 
speech;" and it is a significant fact, as can be 
learned from Hickey's Constitution, page 33, 
that th!s, wifh a nuiuber of other amendments 
to the Constitution which follow it, was submit- 
ted by Congress to the various States in 1789, 
immediately after the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion itsel.", with the following preamble : 

"The coMVPniionsof a number of States havincr, at the 
time of th'ir adopiin;; the OonslltiUion. expressed a desire, 
in order u> prevent mi-construclioii or abuse of its power, 
that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be 

addp.'f." 

Therefore the amendments that followed were 
proposed. 

Thus it is conclusively proven that the amend- 
ment prohibiting any abridgement of the free- 
dom of speech w!\3 adopted to prevent "an 
abuse of power;' which our fjrefathers feared 
might be attempted by some degenerate de- 
Eceniiants at some later period of our history. 
But, though they thus sought to preserve and 



protect free speech, by constitutional provision, 
their prophetic fears have been re;i!i^ed by the 
enactors of the Kansas code. Its one hundred 
and fifty-first chapter, on pages GO-i and fi05, is 
entitled, " An act to piini-*h otTeiices against 
slave property;" and there \^ no decree of Aus- 
trian despot or Russian Czar whinh is not mer- 
ciful, in comparison with its provisions. Here, 
sir, in the very teeth ot the Constitution, is sec- 
tion twelve of that chapter: 

"If any (ree person, by speaking; or bv wriliTiir. angertof 
mat" lain that persons' have not the right lo hnl I slaves Mt 
th'S Tt'ritory, or shall introduce into this Tirrilory', print, 
publish, wrie. circulate, or c use to be introduced into 
this Territory, written, printed, published, or circulated, 
in this Territory, n»!i/ b^ok. paper, ma-jrazine, pamphlet, 
or <i'\rc\x]a.T. containing any detunl of the riuht of persons 
to hold slaves in this rerritor( , such person shal' be deem- 
ed GUILTY OF FELONY, and punishi^d liy imprisoinn«nt aH 
hard labor for a term of not less than two years." 

How many more than two years he shall be 
punished, is left to the tendi r mercy of Judge 
Lecompte, and the jury which "Sheriff Jones" 
will^ select for their trial. The President of the 
United Stages has sworn to supp rt the Consti- 
tution ; but this, with the other "laws of Kan- 
sas," are to be enforced by him, despite 'hat 
Constitution, with the army of the United 
States; and Mr. Buchanan is pledged by Judge 
Douglas to "the firm and undivided execution 
of those laws." But, sir, in a i'^w short months 
the people, the free people of the United States, 
will inaugurate an Administration that will do 
justice to the oppressed settlers of Kansas, that 
will restore to them their betrayed rights, will 
vindicate the Constitution, and will place in the 
offices of trust of that ill-fated Territory men 
who will overthrow the "usurpation," give their 
official influence to Freedom and the Right, 
rather than to Slavery and the Wrong, and pro- 
tect rather than oppress the citizens whom tney 
are called upon to govern and to judge. 

Second. . he same constitutional amendment 
prohibits the passage of any law " abridging 
the freedom ot the press ; " and here, sir, ia 
flagrant violation of it, is the llth section of 
the same law in the Kansas code, page (305 : 

"If any person print, torite, introduce into, publish, or 
circulate, or cause to be broutihl into, printed, wriiien, 
published, or cnciilaled. or shall ki owing^ly aid or assise 
HI bringiiis into, prii'.tmjr. publishing, or circnlatinR. with- 
in this Terriiory. a;iy book, paper, pamphlet, magazine, 
handliill. or circular, coira'niuii any statements, ar^- 
nienis. opinion, sentiment, doctrine, advice, or innuendo, 
eniculated to produce a disorderly, djinu'erous, or rebel- 
lious disafTection ainonsthe slaves in this Territory, or to 
induce sucli slaves to escape from the »ervii'e of their 
masters, or to resist their authority, he shall be guilty of 
floiiy, and be punished by imprisonment and hard labor 
for a term not less than five years," 

And, under this atrociously unconstitutional 
provision, a man who "brought into" the Ter- 
ritory of Kansas a copy of "Jefffrson's Notes 
on Virginia," which contains an eloquent and 
free-spoken condemnation of Slavery, could be 
convicted by one of " Sheriff" Jones's" juries aa 
having introduced a " book " containing a "'sen- 
timent" "calculated" to make the slaves "dis- 
orderly," and sentenced to fire years hard labor. 
Probably under this provision, as well as the 



8 



charge of high treason, George W Brown, ed- 
itor of the Herald, of Freedom, at Jjawrence, 
has, after his printing press has been destroyed 
by the order of Judge Leeompte's court, been 
himself indicted, and is now imprisoned, await- 
ing trial — kept, too, ueder such strict surveil- 
lance, far worse than murderers are treated in 
a civilized country, that even his mother and 
wife were not allowed to visit him until he had 
humbly petitioned the Governor for permission. 
And this upon Ae soil of a Territory which our 
forefathers, in 18'20, m this very Hall, dedicated, 
by solemn compact, to /'Freedom forever." 

Third. The sixth amendment to the Consti- 
tution of the United States declares that, " In 
all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall en- 
joy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an 
IMPARTIAL jury." It is significant that, in the 
Constitution itself, it had been provided (article 
3, section 2) that ''the trial of all crimes, ex- 
cept in eases of impeachment, shall be by jury." 
But, to prevent "abuse of power," this, with 
other amendments, was adopted, declaring' 
that the trial shall be by an impartial ]\ixy. I 
have already shown you how impaftially they 
are to be selected by sheritfs who go about and 
imitate, in their conduct towards Free State 
men, the example of Saul of Tarsus in his per- 
secution of the early Christians, (Acts, chapter 
8, verse 3, " entering into every bouse, and 
seizing men and women, committed them to 
prison;") and I have quoted you a section, 
showing how impartially they Are to be consti- 
tuted, with men on one side only; but in this 
very chapter, the concladiiig provision, (section 
thirteen, (pajre (30(i,) repears this gross viola- 
tion of the National Constitution, as follows: 

"No person, who i-= (■onscipiiiiously opposed to holding 
slaves, or who does not admit \]\v right to hold s!ave.> in 
this Territory, slunl sit as a jaror on the trial ol'any |iros- 
eculionlbr any violation of any of the sections of this act.'' 

Here, sir, in these instances which I have 
quoted, stand the Constitution of the United 
States on the one side, and the Kansas code on 
the other, in direct and open conflict — the one 
declaring that the freedom of speech shall not 
be abridged, that the freedom of the press shall 
be protected, that juries, above all things elde, 
shall be entirely impartial; the other trampling 
all these safeguards under foot. And because 
a majority ot rhe settlers thore, driven from the 
polls by aruied mobs, legislated over by a mob 
in whose election ihr-y had no agency, choose 
to stand by and maintain their ritchts under the 
Conslitution, you liave seeti how anarchy and 
violence, how outrage and persecution, have 
been running riot in that Territory, far exceed- 
ing in their tyranny and uppressiou the wrongs 
for which our revoiiuio'iary forefathers rose 
against the m-xs'^-rs who opprfssed them; and 
yet, though thw pr..tecnon tlii-y have had from 
the General Gjvtrttn.eut iias been only the same 
kind of protection which the wulf gives to the 
lamb, they have, while repudiating the Territo- 
zial sherifi'd, bowed in submission to writs in the 



hands of the United States marshal, or when 
the soldiers of the United States, yielding to 
orders which they do not deem it dishonorable 
for them to despise, assist in their execution. 
Such forbearance — such manifestations of their 
allegiance to the rational authority — become 
the more wonderful, when it is apparent as the 
noonday sun that every attempt has been made 
to harass them into resistance to the authority 
of the United States, so as to furnish a pretext, 
doubtless, for their indiscriminate imprison- 
ment, expulsion, or massacre. 

Fourth. The Constitution also prohibits cruel 
and unusual punishments. I shall show, before 
T close, that this so-called Kansas Legislature 
has prescribed most cruel and unusual punish- 
ments, unwarranted by the character of the of- 
fences punished, and totally disproportioned to 
their criminality. 

Fifth. The Constitution declares (article 1, 
section 9) that "the privilege of the writ of ha- 
beas corpus shall not be suspended, unless whea, 
in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public 
safety may require it." But the Kansas code, 
in its chapter of habeas corpus, (article 3, seo 
tion 8, page 345,) enacts as follows: 

'• No neijro or tnulatto, held as a slave within lhi« Ter- 
ritory, or lawfully arr>-sted a? a fugitive I'rom servii-* fcoin 
a)iotlier Stale or Territory, shall be dischar'Ted. nor shall 
his Tt^hl offreedoin be had under the provisions of this 
act.'' 

This provision, suspending the writ of habeas 
corpus in the above cases, is not only a viola- 
tion of the Constitution, but also of the organic 
law; for that provided, in section 28, for ap- 
peals to the Supreme Court of the United States 
on writs of habeas corpus, in cases involving 
the right of freedom, the issuing of which this 
Territorial law expressly prohibits. The lan- 
guage of the Nebraska-Kansas act is as fol- 
lows : 

'• Except, also, that a writ f>f error or appeil shall a,s« 
be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States 
from the decision of th'^ said Supreme Cour, created by 
thi" act. or of any judije thereof, or of the district courts 
created by this act. or of any judge thereof, upon any writ 
of habeas carpus, involving the quesiion of personal /nf 
dom." 

But the Kansas Legislature coolly set aside 
the law of the United States by which alone 
their Teriitorial organization was brought into 
existence, and effectually prohibited any appeal 
to the Supreme Court, " upon any writ of habeas 
corjms, involving the question of personal free- 
dotn," by declaring that the writ shall not be 
used in the^Territory for any su^h purpose! 

Having now referred to a few of the many 
acts embraced in this code, which conflict with 
the Constitution or the organic law. I proceed 
to the exami'iation of other provisions, some of 
which stamp it as a code of barbarity, aS well 
as of tyranny — of inhumanity as well as of op 
pression. And, first, to "the imprisonment al 
hard labor," which is made tlie pun-ishment foi 
"offences against th'e slave property," in the 
sections which I have already quoted. The 
general understanding of the people at larga 



bas been, that, as there was no State's prison 
yet erected iu Kansas, this imprisonment would 
be in some Missouri prisons near the frontier. 
But, sir, such is not the case. The authors of 
these disofracetul and outrageous enactments, 
with a refinement of cruelty, provided that the 
"hard labor'' should be in another way; and 
that way will be found in chapter 22, entitled 
"an act providing a system of confinement and 
hard labor," section 2 of which (page 147) reads 
aa follows : 

" Every person who may be sentenced by any court of 
competent jurisdiction, under any law in force within this 
Terrirory. to punishment by confinement and hard labor, 
shall be deemed a convict, and shall immediately, under 
the charge ot' the keeper of such jail or public prison, or 
under the charire of such person as the keeper of such jail 
or public prison may select, be put to hard labor, as in the 
first section of this act specified, (to wit. 'on the streets, 
roads, public buildings, or other puhlic works of the Terri- 
tory" — [Sec. 1, page 146;] and such keeper or other person, 
having charge of such convict, shall cause such convict, 
■while ensaged at such labor, to be securely confined by 
a. chain, six feft in UnglK. of noHe.'S than four-sixteenths 
nor more ihsui three-eighths of an inch links, with a.round 
tall qf iron, of not less than four nor more than six inches 
in dirimeter. at'ached. which chain shsll be securely fast- 
ened to the a/iW-i of such convict with a strong lock and 
key; and such keeper, or o'her person, having charge of 
such convict, may .if necessary, confine such convict while 
so engaged at hard labor, by other chains, or other means, 
in his disoretion, so as to keep such convict secure, and 
prevent his escape ; and when there shall be two or more 
convicts under the charge of such keeper.or other person, 
such convicts shall be/astened together by strong chains. 
■wi h strong locks and keys, during the time such convicts 
shall be engaged in hard labor without the walls of any 
jail or prison." 

And this penalty, revolting, humiliating, de- 
basing as it is, subjecting a free American citi- 
zen to the public sneers and contumely of his 
oppressors, far worse than within the prison 
walls, where the degradation of the punishment 
is relieved by its privacy, is to be borne from 
two to five long years by the men of Indiana 
and Ohio, of New England and New York, of 
Pennsylvania and the far West, who dare in 
Kansas to declare, by speech or in print, or to 
introduce therein a handbill or paper, which 
declares, that " persons have not the right to 
hold slaves in this Territory." The chain and 
ball are to be attached to the ankle of each, 
and they are to dra? out their long penalty for 
exercising their God-given and constitutionally- 
protected freedom of speech, manacled together 
in couples, and working, in the public gaze, 
under task-masters, to whom Algerine slave- 
holders would be preferable. 

Sir, as this is one of the laws which the 
Democratic party, by its platform, has resolved 
to enforce, and which the President of the 
United States intends to execute, if need be, 
with the whole armed force of the United 
States, I have prociared a specimen of the size 
of the iron ball which is to be used in that 
Territory under this enactment, and only regret 
that I cannot exhibit also the iron chain, six 
feet in length, which is to be dragged with it. 
through the hot summer months, and the cold 
wintry snows, by the Free State "convicts'' in 
Kansas. [Here Mr. C. exhibited a large and 



heavy iron ball, six inches in diameter, and 
eighteen inches in circumference.] 

Mr. Chairman, if the great men who have 
passed away to the spirit-land could stir them- 
selves in their graves, and, coming back to life 
and action, shotald utter on the prairies of 
Kansas the sentiments declared by them in the 
past, how would they be amazed at the penal- 
ties that would await them on every side, for 
the utterance of their honest convictions or. 
Slavery. Said Washington to John F. Mercer, 
in 1786: 

"I never mean, unless sorae particular circumstance 
should compel me to it, to possess another slave by pur- 
chase, it being among my first wishes to see som« plan 
adopted by which Slavery in this country may be aboi- 
ished by law." 

Said Jefiferson, in his Notes on Virginia : 

"The whole commerce between master and slave is a 
continual exercise of the most unremitting despotism on 
the one part, and degrading submission on the other." * 
* * "With what execration should the statesman be 
loaded, who, permitting one half of the citizens thus to 
trample on the rights of the other, transforms those into 
despots, and theselnto enemies, destroys the morals of the 
one part, and the amor patriae of the other! Can the lib- 
erties of a nation be thought secure, when we have remo- 
ved their only firm basis — a conviction in the minds of the 
people that these liberties are the gift of God ? That they 
are not violated but by his wrath f Indeed, I trenibk for 
mij country when I reflect that God is just, and his justiM 
cannot sleep forever.'^ 

Surely such language, in the eyes of a Pro- 
Slavery jury, would be considered as "calcu- 
lated" 'to render slaves "disorderly." And 
surely, in the language of the President and 
his party, "the law must be enforced." Come, 
then, "Sheriff Jones," with your chain and ball 
for each of these founders of the Republic, and, 
manacled together, let them, as they pursue 
their daily work, chant praises to "the great 
principle for which our revolutionary fathers 
fought," and of which the defenders of the Ne- 
braska bill told us that law was the great em- 
bodiment. 

Said Mr. Webster, in his Marshfield speech, 
in 1848: 

'■ I f>'el that there is nothing unjust, nothing of which 
any honest man can complain, if he is intelli?ent. and I 
feel that there U nothing of which the civilized world, if 
they take notice of so humble an individual as myself, 
will reproach me. when I say. as I said the other day, 
that I have made up my mind, for one. that under no cir- 
cumstances will I consent lo the extension of the area''of 
Slavery in the United Stales, or lo the further increase 
of slave representation in the House of Representatives. 

And again, in 1850 : 

•Sir. wherever there i-s a particular good to be done— « 
wherever there is a foot of land to be staid back from be- 
coming slave territory — i am ready lo assert the principle 
of ihe exclu.'-ion of Slavery." 

Said the noble old statesman of Kentucky, 
Henry Clay, in 1 850 : 

•• I have said that I never could vote for it myself; and 
I repeat, that I never can and never wjll vote, and no 
earihlij jjnieer ever will make me vote, to spread Slavery 
ovtT territory where it does not exist."" 

Surely this, too, conflicts with the law of 
Kansas. Hurry them. Judge Lecompte, to the 
chain-gahg ; and as they commence their years 
of disgraceful and degrading punishment, for- 
get not to read them from the Nebraska bill 
that "its true intent and meaning"' ia "to leave 



10 



the peopip tfipreof perfectly frpp (rot only free, 
but PKKFECTLY frop) to form and regnlale fhoir 
domebtic institutions in tli>-ir own way, pulij-^Ci 
only to the Constitution of the United Stites.'' 
There is ani/ther portion of this aet to which 
I wish to crtU special attention. It is the suc- 
ceeding section to the above, (sec. 3, p. 147:) 

"AVlie ever any convict shall be cirployed at Itibor for 
any incorporate town or city, or any cou I'y, piich town, 
city, or ciiinty. f tisll pay into the Terriiorihl treasury llie 
sum oi fifty cents for each coiivicl. for every (l:iy iucb 
convict sh:i II he erieua'eil at such I:ittf)r; a '(1 vvhenever 
such nvi l shall be eti;p'oyetl iilion Jirivate hiriixg. tii \ i 
bur. it shall be at such pri-e tacli, p r day, as may he 
asrcd upon with such keeper, or other p.*rso]i having 
charge of such and the proceeds of said labor s'lall Le 
collccied by sucli keeper, and put inti; the Territorial 
treasury." 

Not content with the degradation of the 
chain-gang, a system of whme slavery is to 
be introduced by "private hiring;'' and the 
"convicts,"' sentenced for the exercise of the 
freedom of speech and of the pre,<!s, are to be 
hired out during their servitude, if their "keep- 
er" sees fit, to the heartless raftH who this day 
are huntinjr them from their homes, and burn- 
ing their dwellings over their heads. But ''the 
laws are to be executed ;" and though they are 
the off.-!pring of the most gigautic fraud ever 
perpetrated upon a free people, if there is no 
chang^e in the policy of the Government, and 
if the party which controls its action is not 
hurled frotn power, we shall doubtless ne.xf 
year see G-ivemor Robinson (if not previously 
executed for treason) with the iroii chain and 
baU to his ankle, hired from the convict-keeper 
by Governor Shannor to do his menial service; 
or to be puiiivhed, if he disobeys his master's 
orders, like a Southern .«lave. And Judge Le- 
compte would have the privilege, too, and 
•would doubtless exercise it, of having Judge 
Wakefield as his hired serf, dragging, for two 
or five years to come, his chain and ball after 
him, as he entered his master's presence, or 
obeyed his mas'er's command. And Miirshal 
Donaldson, with ''Sheriff Jones," and String- 
fellow, would not certainly be behind their supe- 
riors in the retinue of Frep State slaves whom 
they could satisfy their revenge upon by hiring 
as their meuitils from the keeper of the Kansas 
con-icts. 

There are many things in this code of which 
I desire to speak, but which I will not have 
time to allude to, as my hour is rapidly pass- 
ing away, and I mu.st hai^ten on. It is worthy 
of notice, in pHSsing,that in no place in this code 
is Shivery expressly established in the Territory. 
Instead of leaving the people of the Territory 
"perfectly free to form their o-^n in^titunons," 
Slavery is taken to be an institution already 
exi.-iiing, as if it were already established by 
the (Joiigrens of the United States. In this 
initial legislation of the Territory, it is treated 
as a heretofore recognised and permanent ''in- 
stitution." Thus, by page (iO, slaves are to be 
appraised like other property of a decedent ; 
by page 298, slaves are to be taken in execu- 



tion for debt; bv p^.ge 4r!2, mortgage.9 of s'aves 
are to be rpcorded ; by patre .5.5(), sla;'f« a'<- to 
be taxed by the as-cssors : bv paffe 630, slave 
owners are to be accountable f.r tre.-jju.sps by 
their slaves But nowhere in the code is to be 
found a siigle line, or eertion, declarintr that 
"Slavery is hereby established." I have no 
idea that, even if the Legislature of Kansas 
was to be conceded a legal body, Slavery this 
flay has a legal existence in the Territ(;ry. 
But to expect such a decision from iJs courts, 
would be to look for mercy fmm a Nero. 

As T was examining this Sahara of h tfi.-lation, 
to find, if possible, one oasis, my eye fell upon 
chapt' r 74, pa?e 82.3, headed with the attract- 
ive title of '"FiiEEnoM; " and I rejoiced at the 
certainty of finding somethingr worthy of af>pro- 
val in its provisions. But, ala^ ! it is a fit asso- 
ciate for the rest. By it, it appears that "a per- 
son held in slavery " cannoif. me _/o>' his freedom 
till he first petitions the court for leave to estab- 
lish his riffht to freedom. If that leave is de- 
nied, whether he is legally or illegally held in 
slavery, no matter how clearly he cotild prove 
his freedom, yet, if the court withholds its per- 
mission, he has no alternative bu^ to continue 
in slavery till death frees him from his unjust ser- 
vitude. But if the court consent, he can only 
go on by giving security for the costs, when it 
is a conceded fact that, as a slave, he has not a 
dollar or a copper of his own in the world, and 
caiuot even mortgage his own labor for indem- 
nification of his security. On page 325, section 
12, of this same law, there is a singular provis- 
ion: 

^•Ifxhe phiiniifT lie a negro or mulallo. he is required R> 
prove his rii»lil 'o freedom." 

There can be only one fair, legitimate, infer- 
ence from this — and that is, that it is considered 
quite possible that persons iiof, negroes or ma- 
lattoes — in other words, ivhife pernoiis — may 
happen to beheld in slavery in Kansas; but me 
requirement of the consent of the court, and se- 
curity for costs, applies to thein also ; and, of 
course, section 14 adds: "inactions prosecuted 
under this act, the \\\MnuS shall not recovt¥ any 
damages" from the person who has betn thus 
proven to have held him illegally, and perhaps 
for years, in slavery. 

The code also, to be complete, provides for 
slav-Jlogipng by laio. By the one hundred and 
twenty-second chapter, on page 454. patrols are 
to be appointed by the county boards, who are 
to visit negro quarters, and to watch unlawful 
assemblages of slaves. If slaves are found at 
the latter, or strolling from one plantation to 
another without a pass, they are to suffer teu or 
twenty lashes. There is one exception, and, as 
I desire to do impartial justice to this code, I 
wish to say, to be placed to the credit of the 
men who enacted it, that that whipping clans* 
is not to be construed to prevent slaves from 
going directly to or returning from divine wor- 
ship ou the Sabbath. They believe, it fleeras, 
in the " stated preaching of the Gospel," and 



11 



therefore that, is excepted. But, sir, when vis- 
itin<r, on an adjoining plantation, a woman 
whom her nia,stt'r allows him to call his wife, 
till he chooses to sell her and her children to 
some distant slaveholder, tlie lash is the penal- 
ty, unle«3 he is provided with a pass. 

The ConatitiUion speaks of the value and the 
necessitv of "' a u'ell-regidafed miliiia.'^ And the 
bogus Legislature have taken pains to keep 
their militia "well regulated." indeed. They 
have not failed to keep the military force of the 
Territory in their own hands by some remarka- 
ble provisions, found on page 419, chapter oVie 
hundred .and ten, and very truthfully entitled 
" An act to organize, discipline, ffnd govern, 
the militia of this Territory." Not one solitary 
jot or tittle of power is given to the people of 
the Territory to elect even a fourth corporal of 
the militia.. The Governor, sir, by this law, ap- 
points the generals and the colonels. The colo- 
nels appoint the captains. The captains ap- 
point the sergeants, the musicians, and the cor- 
porals. And all the people have to do is to say 
Amen! and train when ordered. Precisely such 
an experiment as this was tried in Indiana some 

i rears ago, and all went off happily and smooth 
y until it came to the people's turn to train ; 
which all over the State they very unanimously 
declined to do. There was no Lecompte in 
Indiana to indict the whole State for treason, 
and the whole matter passed oti" as an excellent 
joke, that offended no one, officers or people. 
But a Lecompte sits on the Kansas bench, and 
to refuse to obey this law is treason in his eyes. 
But there is more in this chapter than meets 
the eye at fi''st. It provides, in the first place, 
(see page 420,) that the Territory shall be divi 
ded into military divisions, and that each brigade 
shall consist cf not less than two nor more than 
five regiments. It is not supposable, of course, 
that, in the early settlement of the Territory, 
there will be more than two regiments in each 
brigade, especially as there are two divisions of 
militia in the Territory, and hot less than two 
brigades in each division. And now, sir, if you 
will turn to section 12, page 421, you will find 
that, by its cunningly-devised provisions, o/ieAu// 
of the people of Kansas are to be under train- 
ing orders of their superior q/fiveis, bound to go 
wherever those officers command them, upon the 
TfcRY DAY OF THE ELECTio.vs i/t the Ttrritortj ! 
That clause reads : 

"Sec \'i Thai Oil the last Saturday in llie month of .\u- 
gnst, in every yeiir, the colonel or commaMclm!? officer of 
eacli re^'imeiit an 1 separate balttilio . s'^all, \>y written or 

Erinted advertisemf iits, put up or distriluitetl fifteen day- 
efore siid da, , call out all coinpair and siulf officers 
under his commaMcl, to rendezvous at >o ne convenient ai;d 
suitable pU(Ci>, where they shall be formed and drilled in 
flompauy order by the commandant; and at said rendez- 
vous the commandiiut shall give to the offi crs public no- 
tice of ihe plaC'" where the regiment or hallalion shall 
meet, whieh place shall bf within his district, and the lime 
as follows, viz : thefint regiment, or one lowest in uuniher 
in each hri^ade. shnll men at ttn o'clock in the forenoon on the 
first Monday in October,''^ &c. 

It adds that the next regiment in each brig- 
ade is to meet the ensuing day. 



In order that (here may be no mi.sunderstand* 
ing or denial that this is the regular election 
day, I quote from chapter 6G of the Code, page 
2<l0: 

'■ Sec. 1 . On the first Mondny in Ociober, in the ye- r one 
thou<r>Md pi;j;ht hundred and fifty five, and on the first .Mon- 
day'in October, every two y'-ars thereafter, an el-'Ction 
for delesrate to the House of Repr<'¥eiitatives of the United 
Stales shall be held, a' the respeotive places of holding 
e'eciions, in ihe Territory of Kansas. 

Skc. a. On the first Monday in October, in the year one 
thousand 'Mtrht Imi-.drec. and iifiy-six, and on the first Mon- 
day in Octcb-r in ever, year ihere-fier, -jii election tor 
I Representatives of the Lesrislative Assembly, and lor all 
other elective offices not otherwise provided for by law, 
shall be held, at the respective places of holding elections, 
in this Territory. 

"Sec 3. On the first Monday in October, in the year one 
thousand eiijht hundred and fifiyseven. .ind on Ihe first 
Afonday in Ocioberevery two years thereafter, an elec-ion 
shall be held, at the respectivp'plJ>',-esof holding elections, 
for members of the council." 

On the very day of thf» election, therefore — 
which in every other State of the LTnion is some- 
thing like a Sabbath, so far as ordinary busi- 
ness is concerned, and men are permitted to 
choose their own officers and legislators as they 
see fit, untraraelled by any power upon earth, 
and when men, in many States, are exempt from 
arrest for all offences but felony, to aid to the 
furthest extent in leaving the people perfectly 
free in the exercise of the freeman's most price- 
less right, the elective franchise — these citizens 
of Kansas are to be summoned forth by l.heir 
superior officers, wherever they may choose to 
march them, subject to the penalties of an in- 
stant court martial, if they do not obey. For 
section 13 says, page 423 : 

" If a non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, 
shall be ffuilly of ilhohedienre of orders, or disrespect to an 
officer, during the lime lie shall he on duty, he .shall be tried 
by a court-martial, and fined, not less than five dollars, 
nor more than twenty dollars." 

There is no provision in this chapter by which 
these officers, appointed by the Governor, are 
to supply the privates with tickets of an orthO' 
dox character, to be voted under their " or- 
ders;" but the selection of election-day for 
training-day is a coincidence that is obviously 
not accidental. The authority given by French 
generals to the army to vote as they please, 
but if they vote, they must vote for Napoleon, 
is to be re-enacted in Kansas ; and even if 
the freemen of Kansas, under training orders 
as they are, should vote as they please, despite 
the reign of terror existing there, and the an- 
gry denunciations of their officers, they can be 
kept by those officers, as it was doubtless in- 
tended they should be, under such orders as 
will prevent them from protecting their ballot- 
boxes against the invasion which is, doubtless, 
this fall — as so often before — to crowd thena 
with fraudulent votes. 

Section thirteen of this same law brings all 
the Sharpe's rifles on the ground, where the 
" superior officers" can take possession of them 
under color of law, without fear of their con- 
tents : 

"That it shall be the duty of every non-roinmissioned 
officer and private who owns a rifle, musket, or fire-Ioct^ 
to appear with it in good order at every parade." 



12 



The whole country has heard, sir, of the sec- 
tion of the election law which allows " inhabit- 
ants " to vote at the general election, without 
requiring them to have resided in the Terri- 
torf a single day ; and of the test oaths to sus- 
tain the Fugitive Slave Law and the Nebraska 
Bill, which are intended to shut out all men 
opposed to both from the ballot-box. And I 
will quote it from page 282, because I desire to 
contrast its provisions with another : 

" Sec. 11. Every free white male citizen of the United 
States, and every free male Indian who is made a citizen 
by treaty or otherwise, and over the age of twenty-one 
years, who shall be an inhabitant of this Territory, and of 
the county or district in which he offers to vote, and shall 
have paid a Territorial lax, shall be a qualified f lector for 
all elective officers; and all Indians who are inhatiitants of 
this Territory, and who may have adopted the customs of 
the white man, and who are liable to pay taxes, shall be 
deemed citizens: Provided, That no soldier, seaman, or 
marine, in the regular Army or Navy of the United States, 
shall be entitled to vote, by rea.soa of being on service 
therein : A>Ld provided, further. That no person who shal", 
have been convicted of any violation of any provision of 
an act of Congress, entitled 'An act respecting fugitives 
from justice, and persons esciping from the service of 
their masters,' approved February 12, 1793; or of an act 
to amend and supplementary to said act, approved ISth 
September, 1>50; whether such conviction were by crim- 
inal proceeding or by civil action for the recovery of any 
penalty prescribed by either of said acts, in any courts of 
the United States, or of any State or Territory, of any of- 
fence deemed infamous, shall be entitled to vote at any 
election, or to hold any ofiice in this Territory : And pro- 
wled, further. That if any person ofTering to vote shall be 
challenged and required to take an oath or affirmation, to 
be administered by one of the judges of the election, 
that he will sustain the provisions of the above-recited 
acts of Congress, and of the act entitled 'An act to organ- 
ize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,' approved 
May 30, 1354, and shall refuse to take such oath or alBrm- 
ation, the vote of such person shall be rejected.'' 

Merely being an " inhabitant," if the person 
is in favor of the Nebraska bill, and of the Fu- 
gitive Slave Law, qualifies him as a voter in all 
the elections of the Territory affecting National 
or Territorial politics. The widest possible 
door is opened for the invaders to come over 
and carry each successive election as '' inhabit- 
ants" for the time being of the Territory. But, 
turn to page V50, and notice the following pro- 
vision (section 8) defining the qualifications 
of voters at the petty corporation elections of 
Lecompton : 

'■ All free white male citizens who have arrived to the 
full age of twenty-one years, and who shall be entitled to 
vote lor Territorial officers, and who shall have resided 
within the city limits at least six months next precediu"- 
any election, and, moreover, who shall have paid a city 
tax or any city license according to ordinance, shall be 
eligible to vote at any ward or city election tor officers of 
the c.ty."' 

Being an inhabitant a day elothes a person 
with the right to vote for Delegates in Congress, 
and Representatives in the Legislature; but to 
rote at an insignificant election, in comparison, 
six months' residence is required I Am I wrong 
in judging that this inverting the usual rule, 
shows that Missouriang are wanted at the one 
election, but not at the other? If any one 
deems this opinion unjust, let him study the 
following sections of the General Election Law, 
page 283 : 

"Sec. 19. AVhenever any person sliall offer to vote, he 
•nail BK PBssLjtED to be entitled to vote. 



" Sec. 20. Whenever aiiy person offers to vote, his vota 
,nay be challenged by one of the judges, or by any voter, 
and the judges of the election may examine him touching 
hi.* riaht to vote ; and if so examined, no evidence to con- 
tradict Sn.ILL BE RECEIVED." 

Certainly these provisions explain themselveSi 
without comment. 

I will now invite your attention to a contraat 
in the penal code of this Territory, singular in 
its character, to say the very least. Section 
five ofthe act punishing offences against slave 
property, page 604, enacts as follows: 

" If any person shall ai/lor assist in enticing, decoying, 
or persuadins;,OT carrying away, or sending out of this 
Territory, any slave beloiiging to another, with intent to 
procure or effect the freedom of such .-lavt, or with intent 
to deprive the owner thereof of the services of such slave, 
he shall be adjudged guiliy of grand larceny, and on con- 
viction thereof ,sAaWsj(^t'r death, or be imprisoned at hard 
labor tor not less than ten years," 

A person who, by a pro-slavery packed jary, 
is convicted of aiding in persuading out of the 
Territory a slave belonging to another, is to 
suffer at least twice as severe a penalty as he 
who is convicted of committing the vilest out- 
rage that the mind of man can conceive of on the 
person of your wife, sister, or daughter! Nay, 
the contrast is still stronger. The jury, in the 
first instance, are authorized even to inflict the 
punishment of death — in the latter, see page 
208, the penalty is " not less than five years." 
Such is the contrast in Kansas between the 
protection of a wife's or daughter's honor and 
happiness, and that which is thrown as a pro- 
tecting cegis over the property of the slave- 
holder! 

Again, on page 208, you will find that the 
ruffian who commits malicious mayhem, that 
is, without provocation, knocks you down ia 
the street, cuts off your nose and ears, and 
plucks out your eyes, is punished " not less 
than five nor more than ten years ;" the same 
degree of punishment that is meted out in sec- 
tion seven of the above act, page 605, on a 
person who should aid, or assist, or even " har- 
bor," an escaped slave 1 

On page 209, you will find that the man who 
sits at your bedside, when you are prostrated 
by disease, and, taking advantage of your con- 
fidence and helplessness, administers poison t« 
you, but whereby death does not happen to 
ensue, is to be punished not less than five nor 
more than ten years," though it is murder ia 
the heart, if not the deed. And this is precise- 
ly the same penalty as that prescribed by the 
eleventh section (quoted in my remarks al)0ve, 
on the five violations of the Constitution) 
against one who but brings into the Territory 
any book, paper, or handbill, containing any 
"sentiment" "calculated," in the eyes of a 
Pro-Slavery jury, to make slaves " disorderly." 
The man who takes into the Territory Jeffer- 
son's Notes on Virginia can be, linder this law, 
hurried away to the chain-gang, and manacled, 
arm to arm, with the murderous poisoner. 

On page 210, the kidnapping and conjine- 
ment of a free white person, for any purpose, 
even, if a man, to sell him into slavery, or if 



13 



a woman, for a still baser purpose, is to be 
punished " not exceeding ten years Decmj- 
inq and entiaing away a child, under twelve 
years of age, from its parents, " not less than 
Bix months, and not exceeding five years, but 
decoyinq and enticing away (mark the similar- 
ity of the language!) a slave from his master, 
is punished by death, or confinement, not Jess 
than ten years. Here is the section, page bO-i = 



" 'Jec 4 II any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away 
out of thi. Terriiory, any slave belonging to another, with 
intent to deprive the owner thereof ot the services of 
Buch slave, or with intent to elTect or procure the freedom 
of<^uch slave, he shall be adjudged uuilly of grand lar- 
cenv and. on coiivic-.ion thereof, shall suffer death, ot 
he imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years.' 

I had hoped to find time to cite and com- 
ment upon other sections in this code, but I 
•will quote but one more, showing that, while a 
tchite man is compelled to serve out the penal- 
ty of his crime, at hard labor, these slavehold- 
ing legislators have, in their great regard for the 
value of the slave's labor to his master, enact- 
ed that a slave, for the same o fence, shall be 
whipped, and then returned to him. Here is 
the section, which I commend to the consider- 
ation of those who, while defending these laws, 
nickname the Republicans "nigger-worship- 
pers." It is found ou page 252 : 

" «;ec "7 If any slave shall commit petit larceny, or 
shaH steal any neat cattle, sheep, or hog. or be S'uilty oi any 
misdemeanor, or other offence punishable under the pro- 
visions of this act oiily by fine or imprisonment in a coun- 
ty jail, or by both such fine and imprisonment, he shall. 
iJtead- of sneh punishment, hi punished, if a male, by 
stripes on his hare back not exceeding thi.ty-mne, or if a 
female, by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding 
twenty-one days, or by stripes not exceeding twenty-one, 
at the discretion of the justice." 

Such, sir, is au impartial analysis of the code 
of Kansas, every allusion to which has been 
proven by extracts from the official copy now 
in my hand, and in quoting which I have re- 
ferred, .in every instance, to the page, the num^ 
ber of the section, and its exact words ; and i 
think that the strong language at the outset ot 
my remarks, in which I denounced this dis- 
graceful and tyrannical code, has been fully 
justified by the proofs I have laid before you 
from its pages. Let it not be forgotten,-Mr. 
Chairman, that it is because the people of Ivan- 
gas — an overwhelming majority of the actual 
settlers there— refused to obey these enact- 
ments passed by a body of men elected by 
armed mobs of invaders- that they have been 
delivered over to persecutions without parallel, 
and to all the horrors of civil war. 

Had I time, I would desire to refer to the 
history of events in that Territory; to the 
reckless and ruthless violation of plighted faith 
in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
which opened the door for legislation like this; 
to the entire absence of any protection by the 
President to the settlers against personal out- 
rage ; to the repeated invasions by which the 
whole machinery of legislation was usurped, 
but the fruits of which the President upholds 
by cannon and bayonet, with proclamations and 
peaaltiea ; to the causes which led to the civil 



war that has existed in that Territory ; to that 
most aggravating of all insults by which the 
very Jones who headed an invading party of 
Missourians at one of the polls, and with hia 
revolver at the breast of an election jad^e, gave 
him five minutes to resign or die, was commis- 
sioned as a Sheriff, to ride booted and spurred 
over the people whose rights he had thus as- 
sisted in striking down; and many other things 
that make the blood of the great mass of freemen 
at the North course, as it never before coursed, 
through their veins. But I must allude, before 
concluding, to the mockery of relief held out 
to the people by the President and his coad- 
jutors. 

In his special message to Congress, on the 
27th of January last, the President spoke thus: 



"Our system, affords no justification of revolutionary 
acts; for the constitutional means of relieving the people 
of unjust a<lniinistrauoiis and laws, by a change of public 
agents and by repeal, are ample." 

And in his speech, as reported in the Union 
of June 10, made to the Buchanan ratification 
meeting, who marched to the White House, he 
coolly told them : 

■'There win be, on your part, no appeal to unworthy 
passions, no inflanimcitory calls for a second revolution, 
like those which are occasionally reported as coming 
from men who have received nothing at the hands oT 
their Government but protection aid political blessings, 
no declaration of resistance to the laws of the land." 

But I will not stop to albide to the " protec- 
tion and political blessings " which the people 
of Kansas have received from the "hands of 
their Government." It was bitter irony indeed. 

Judge Douglas, too, at the same meeting, 
speaking of the Kansas laws, declared as fol- 
lows: 

'■ Or, if they desire to have any of tlie laws repealed, 
lelih'-mtry to carry their point at the polls, and let the 
majority decice the question." 

Never, sir, was there a more signal instance 
of " holding the word of promise to the ear, 
and breaking it to the hope." Where are the 
" amjde " means of obtaining relief from the un 
endurable tyranny that grinds down the Free 
State men of Kansas into the dust ? How can 
they " carry their point at the polls?" Let facts 
answer : 

1. The Council, which passed these laws, 
has extended its term of service till 1858; 80 
that, if the entire representative branch was 
unanimous for their repeal, the higher braueh 
has the power to prevent the slightest change 
in them for two Jong yeais ! 
#2. The Free State men in Kansas are abso 
lutely shut out from the polls by test oaths, 
which no one with the aoul of a freeman, who 
traces all the outrages there directly to theen- 
actment of the Nebraska bill, can conscien- 
tiously swear to. 

3. Even if they do go there, and swear to 
sustain the Nebraska bill and the Fu^^itive 
Slave Lnw, the election law is purposely fram- 
ed, as I have shown, to invite invasions Of 
Missourians, to control the elections in favor of 
Slavery. 



14 



4. They are driven from the jury-box, as 
well" as diafrai.chised, and prohibited from act- 
iwr as aaornevs in tbe courts, unless they take 
the -est, oath prescri.^ed by their conquerors, i 

5. Free Kp^-ech is not tolerated. They are 
l»rt'"|jertec!lv trt-e to ibrm and regulate their 
domestic insiitntions in llieirowu way," except, 
if they ."P'-ak a word against Slavery, they are 
convicted of felony, and hurried to the chain- 

6. The presses in the Territory, at Leaven- 
wor'.h and Lawrence, in favor of Freedom, have 
been destr yed, and the two last by the author- 
ity of I be court of Judge Lecompte, thus "crush- 
ing out" the freedom of the pres.?. _ ^ 

7 Indictments are found by packed juries 
against every prominent Free State citizen; and 
those who are not forced to flee from the Terri- 
tory, are arrested and imprisoned, while those 
who have stolen from Free State men, tarred 
and iea'hertd them, burned their houses, or 
murdered them, go at large, unpunished. 

In such a state of affairs as this, to talk of 
going to the polls and having the laws repeal- 
ed, is worse than a mockery. It is an iusuU. 
It is like binding a man hand and foot, throw- 
ing him into the river, and then telling him to 
Bwlm on shore, and he will be saved. It is 
like loading a man with irons, and then telling 
him 10 run for his life. The only relief possi- 
ble, if Kansas is not promptly admitted as a 
State, which I hope may be effected, is in a 
change of the Aumiuist-a'.Ion and of the party 
tbai. so reckles-ily misrules the laud : and that 
will furnish an effectual relief. 

As I look, sir, to the smiling valleys and fer- 
tile plains of ICunsas, and witness there the sor- 
rowful scenes of civil war, in which, when for- 
bearance at last ceased to be a virtue, the Free 
State men of the Territory felt it necessary, de- 
serted as they were by their Government, to 
dek'tid their live.s, ibeir families, their properly, 
and their hearthstones, the language of one of 
the noblest statesmen of the age, uttered six 
years ago at the other end of this Capitol, rises 
before my mind, I allude to the great states- 
man of Kemucky, Henry Ciay And while the 
party which, when he lived, lit the torch of 
slander at every avenue of his private life, and 
libell. d him before the American people by 
every epi'het that renders man infamous, as a 
gam^iiler, debauchee, traitor, and enemy of his 
count-v, are now engaged in shedding liotitious 
tears over his grave, and appealing to his ^ 
supporters */0 a'd by their votes in shielding 
them tr>ra me 'ndignation of an uprisen people, 
1 ask them to read this language of his, which 
cornea to ih as from his tomb to-day. With the 
ch)inge of but a single geographical word in the 
pla'-? of '' MexicL," how pr->plietically docs it 
apply to the very scenes and i-isues of this year! 
And vvho c m dnubt with what party he would 
8tA"d in the coming campaign, if he Wi»s re- 
Btorea to us from the damps of the grave, wli^n 
they read the folUwing, which fell from his lips 



in 1850, and with which, thanking the House 
for its attention, I conclude my remarks. 



" nm if unhappily, we should be involved in w-tr. m 
civil war l)etwe.'n the two parts of thi« Coiifeileracy, in 
which the efTorl upon the one sidfi sho Id b^- lo m^rom 
the -introfluaion of Slavery into the new Terniorus and 
u,ion the other side to force v.s iniroiiuction there, what a 
spectacle sltould we present to the asioni-lnntnt ol man- 
kind. i:i an eliort. not lo propau'sne n-li >; but— rmnst s-ay 
it lioU"h I trust it wil be understood to be said with aO 
design to excite leeling-a wr.r -o propairate wron^^s in 
tlie Territori.,s thus acquired from M. xico ! It would 1)8 
a war in wliieh w." should have no sympathies, no pood 
wishes— in w/i'cA all mankind would he nf;r,i„st tij ; for, 
from the comni- ncement of the Revolution down to the 
present lime, we have constantly r.-proached our IJritislx 
ancestors for the introductioti of Slavery into this coun- 
try." 



APPENDIX. 

Below will be found extracts from speeches 
made during the present session of Congress, 
by Democratic members, all of whom are act- 
ively suppoiting Mr. Buchanan's election; and 
four out of the five are Northern Democrats. 

The following is from the speech of Judg« 
Wakxer, of Georgia, delivered in the House of 
Representatives on the 1st of April, 1856 ; and 
not only corroborates one of the Northern argu- 
ments against the extension of Slavery, (that it 
exhausts and blights the soil,) but also proves 
that even if Kansas was conceded to the " pe- 
culiar institution," it would still need more, and 
would demand more : 

" There is not a slaveholder, in this House oi 
' out of it, but who knows perfectly well that 
' ivhmevcr Slavery is confined within certain cpccial 
' limits, its future existence is doomed; itis only a 
' question of time as to its final destruction. \ ou 
' may tako any single slaveholding county in the 
' aotithern Slates, in which the great staples of 
' cotton and sugar are cultivated to any extent, 
' and confine the present slave population within 
' the limits of that county. Sucb is the rapid 
' natural increase of the slaves, and the iiapid 
' EXUAUsrio.N OF THE soii. iu the cultivation of 
' those crops, (which add so much to the com- 
' mercial wealth of the country,) that in a few 
' years it would he impossible to support them 
' ■within the lituits of each county. Both master 
' and slave would be starved out ; and what would 
' be the practical effect in any one county, the 
' same result would happen to all the slavehold- 
' ing States. Slavery cannot uk coNFiNiiD within 
' certain specilicd limits wiTiioirT pitODUCiXQ the 

' DESTUUCTtON OP BOTH MASTER AND SLAVE. It 

' REQiTiRES FRKSH i,ANi)S, plenty of wood and 
' water, not only for the comfort and happiness of 

< the slave, but' for the benefit of the owner. We 
' understand perfectly well the practical effect 
' of the proposed restriction upon our tights, 
' and to what extent it interferes with Slavery 
' in the States; and we also understand the ob- 
' i>r.t and purpose of that intevf rencc. If the 

j ' slaveholding States should ever he =:o rcgard- 

< le.ss of their riglits. and tlicir honor, as co'qual 
States, to be willing :o submit to this proposed 

' restriction, for the sake of harmony and peace, 
! ' they could not do it. There is a great, over- 
i ' ruling, practical necessity which would prevent 



15 



« it They ought not to submit to it upon prin- \ jority and minority reports from the Committee 
« cipUiiCthey could, and could not if they would. '■ oq Territone3 were made to the Senate, Judge 
" [t 13 iu vievT of these thius?.^, sir, th:it the Douglas, in the couriic of a reply to n-marks by 
' people of Geor>^ia have assembled in convention, ' Mr. Sumnci, spoke as follows :— (See D.iily Con- 
t ati'l solcmiili, nsolued that, if Cony, -ess shall pa.'is gressional Globe, March 13th, 185G, 5ih colnmn 
« a law excluding them from the common Territon/ . of second page.) _ 

' with their duve property, they will disrupt the lies \ " The minority report advocates foreign inter- 



< that bind them to the Union." 

The following extracts are from the speech of 
Judge Douglas, dtlivered in the Senate, .March 



' ference; we advocate self-government aiu! non- 
' interference. We are ready to meet the is<ue; 
' and there will be no dodging. We intend to meet 




ujority 
' iou that tbings sliould be called by their right 
' names — that revolution should be checked — 
' that rebellion should be put down — that insur- 
' rection sliould be suppressed— and that the 
' Government should use with firm hand and 
' steady nerve wha' ever force mat/ be necessary to 
' maintain the supremacy of the laws against all 
' organized resistance, from whatever quarter it 
' may come. 

" In this connection it is worthy of remark 
' that the particular acts of the Legislature 
' which have been forcibly resisted, and for 
■ violation of which the prisoners have been 



' a defiant spirit is exhibited here; tve accept the 

On the 2Gth of May, 185G, Senator Pugh, of 
Ohio, a Northern Democrat, speaking of the 
Kansas Code of Laws, remarked :— (See Appen- 
dix to Congressional Globe, page 610.) 

"Sir, I regret the necessilg for such legislation; 
' but WHEREVER Slavery exists as an institution, 
' laws of that character must be adopted.'' 

Ttiis was spoken in that portion of his re- 
marks directly following and commentijig upon 
the 11th section of the act punishing offences 
against slave property, quoted in the foregoing 
' rescued from the officers, are not the same laws [ speech underthe head of the second violation of 
' that are represented as being barbarous and i the Constitution 
' oppressive. Of the vast number of enactments 



' aliecting almost every relation ia life, and fill- 
' iug a volume of nearly one thousand pages, 
' o/Jy two are complained of as being unjust and 
' oppressive. These are the statutes in regard to 
' the elections and slaves. 

" All of the ot/'^rs, so fir as we have been in- 
' formed are e.vtirely p.\objectionable, and well 
< adapted to the promotion and protection of the 
' best interests of society " 

* * * * * * * * 

" A word or two more on another point, and I 

' will close. My colleague has m ide an assault 

• on the President of tiie United States, for his 

olforts to vindicate the supremacy of the laws, 

' and pat down insurrection and rebellion in the 

' Territory of Kansas. In my opinion, the Presi- 

' dent of the Huited States is entitled to the 

thanks of the whole country, for the prompt- 

n''3S and energy with which he has met the 

' crisis. It was his imperative duty to maintain 

' the supremacy of the hiws, and see that tliey 

' were fiithfuUy executed. It was his duty to 

' supi)re-s rebellion and put down treason. My 

' cu!!;-ague says that it will b« necessary to Catch 

' t'lH. irtitor before the President can htiig hiraj | ' the annexation of Texas. 
' :»Iy ■•pinion is, that, from the signs of the timi^s, ' ' " They are answered by his perseverikg sup- 
' and iu view of a'! tha' is passing around us, as ; ' port of the Fugitive Slave Law. 
' \\A\ :is at a distance, there will he very little ' "They are answered by his energetic efforts 
' diiii/ulty in arresting the traitors -and that, too, ' to elTect the repeal of the law of ihe Sttite of 
' wit 1. I'll going all tlie way lO K.in.-as to find ' Pennsylvania, denying to the Federal authori- 
' t'l'-ai! [Laughter.] This Government his -shown ' ties the use of h^r prisons for the detention of 
' it<i;ir' the most powerful of any on ear^h in all ^fugitive slaves. 

' re-pi./t,s except one. It hits shown it.-i^lf enual [■ They axe answered by his E.VRLY and un- 
' to t'jreign war or to domestic defent-t — •-»i\ni\ ' yie'din^/ ofiposinon to the Wihnot Proviso. 
' to imv emergency that mii^y arise .in the exer- " Thc^ are answered by every voU- he gavt in, 
' ci>" of its high functions in all (hirtgs except'the ' the A.n'riran dngress on the question of Slavery, 
' poiri'r to hang a /ra/'or.'" ' and by the fiict, tliat, of all Northern men, ha 

On the l.ath of March, the day that the ma- • he haa been among the most prominent in assei't- 



On the 13th of May, 185G, J. Glancy Joses, of 
Pennsylvania, one of the leading Democratic 
members of the House, and a champion of the 
interests of Mr. Buchanan, then a candidate be- 
fore the De.mocratic National Convention, about, 
to assemble, defended him against speeches that 
had been made against him. [I would add, that 
all the extracts in this Appendix are from edi- 
tions of speeches revised by their authors.} 

" All such accusations as these against Mr. 
' Buchanan, are answered by thirty-six years of 
' devotion to the Constitution of the United 
' States. 

"They are answered by the fact, that, twenty 
' years ago^ in the Senate of the United States, 
' he was among the first Northern men to resist the 
' inroads of Abolitioniim. 

" They are answered by his opjiosition to 
' the circulation of insurrectionary documetits, 
' through thi mails of the United States, among 
' the slaves of the South. 

" They are answered bj- his determined sup 
' port of the bill admitting Arkansas into the 
' Ameiican Union. 

"They are aa-wered by his early support of 



16 



* mg and defending a strict construction of the 

• Federal Constitution." 

This speech \vas extensively circulated ; and, 
it is believed, did more towards eflfecting Mr. 
Buchanan's nomination at the Cincinnati Con- 
vention, three weeks afterwards, than all other 
efforts in his favor combined. 

The following extracts are from the speech of 
Mr. Cadwalader, of Peunsylvania, another prom- 
inent and influential friend of Mr. Buchanan's, 
delivered in the House, March 5th, 185G: 

" We are soon to be divided into sixty, or, more 
probably, seventy States, if the normal conditions 
of our countr3-'s progress can be fulfilled. These 
conditions of our progress, and of its attendant 
happiness and prosperity, cannot be fulfilled un- 
less the legislation on the subject of Slavery in the 
Territories is to be regulated, under the Constitu- 
tion, with a due regard to the rights and interests 
of the slaveholding States, which the Constitution 
purports to secure." 

■jr ***** * 

"After the Mexican war, an attempt was un- 
successfullj^ made to apply again the principle 
of these partitions to new territorial acquisitions. 
This attempt failed, because, as I will presently 
have occasion to show, local considerations 
rendered the principle inapplicable. We were 
driven by necessity to adopt here the nominal 
principle of common possession with common 
enjoyment. But as the Mexican laws locally in 
force had excluded Slavery from these Territories, 
the application of this principle to them was 
illusory, so far as any possibility of participation 
in their further settlement by slaveholders might 
be concerned. Property 'm slaves was thus, «« 
e^ecf, excluded n-hoUy from their limits." 

" The principle of the former partitions having 
become inapplic ible, and slaveholding settlers 
having been altogether excluded from this territory, 
the slaveholding States were, of right, entitled to an 
INDEMNIFICATION /or their loss, if it could be afforded 

BY GIVING TUEM ACCESS, WITH THKIR SL.U'ES, TO 

OTHER TERRITORY. If such acccss could be given 
without any violation of existing rights of others 
in such territory, there could be no just cause 
for its denial. This was true, although their 
exclusion from the territory acquired from Mexi- 
co might have been the result of unavoidable 
causes, for which the I'nited States were not re- 
sponsible. Equal participation in the beneficial 
enjoyment ofTtWiterrilory having become impossible, 
and the whole benefit of its enjoyment having, 
' from the first, enured '.o one class of its common 
proprietors, the othtr class ought to receive an in- 



' DEMNiFiCATiON from soniB other portiotl^ of the 
' common property. Thi3 principle ivas tTic morai 
' basis of that praiseworthy legislation of 1854 
' which the Chairman of the Committee on Ter- 
' ritories has most injudiciously denominated a 
' ' conspiracy against Freedom.' " 

[The above argument completely overthrows 
the plea that the Nebraska bill of 1854 was 
framed in accordance with the principles of tho 
Compromise of 1850. Mr. C. contending that 
by leaving the Mexican laws in force in the Ter- 
ritories legislated for in 1850, Slavery was kept 
out of them, and that the Nebraska bill of 1854- 
was " AN indemnification" to the slaveholders 
"for their loss'' in the former Compromise ! ] 

But here are two more extracts from this same 
speech, which may throw light on "the true in- 
tent and meaning of the Nebraska bill : 

" To the northward of the latitude 40°, climate 
' and other considerations made Slavery practi- 
' cally out of the question. To the southward 
' of 36° 30'', on this side of the Rocky moun- 
' tains, except in that portion of what was taken 
' from Texas and annexed to New Mexico in 
' 1850, the institution of Slavery is now established. 
' From all parts of our country to the westward 
' of the Rocky mountains, it is excluded. This 
' exclusion is probably permanent. The Terri- 
' tory of Kansas, lying westward of the State ot 
' Missouri, between the parallels of latitude 37° 
' and 40°, is, therefore, now the only space in 
' which the question of Slavery is to be regarded 
' as of any practical importance." 

"The question is, whether the force of a nu- 
' merical majority from the Northern States can 
' be rightfully exercised, in order to deprive our 
' Southern brethren of the privilege OF free access, 
' with their slaves, to this 'Territory — a Ter- 
' ritory, be it remembered, within degrees of lati- 
' tilde which, to the eastward of its limits, include 
' already five slaveholding States, and much more 
' land of slaveholders than land from which Sla- 
' very is excluded." 

******* 

"Should Kansas become a slaveholding Terri- 

' tory, AND ultimately be divided li.'T0 TWO OR 

' three SLAVEHOLDING States, Nebraska and Min- 
' nesota must nevertheless be divided into ten or 
' eleven non-slaveholding States. [?] It should 
' be our hope and prayer that these future States 
' may be organized in such a manner that their 
' inhabitants may retain the good-will and fclloio- 
' ship of the people of the slaveholding States, and 
' maintain the stability of the Union." 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

BUBLL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 

1856. 



